BP not feeding

Hi all,
I have a male pastel ball around 5 or 6 month old. When i first got him he was a fantastic eater every week without hesitation. I have always fed him on defrosted food and without entising him to strike, he has always calmly just taken it.

He has now not eaten for four weeks, each time i have offered him a meal he has ventuted out of his hides and sniffed around the rat but left it alone.

I would be bold to say his viv environment is almost perfect for him with optimal ambiance, adequat hide outs good humidity levels basrd on bp fact sheets.

Also he is not due his shedding cycle as he shedding 5 week ago and then ate the day after, this is becoming very frustrating for me now so any help would be appreciated.

I can upload pictures if required, thanks.

Welcome to the site!

Can you give us some more info on your cage?

1. What type/size cage do you have?
2. What are you using to heat your cage?
3. Do you have anything controlling your heat sources?
4. What are you using to measure temperatures?
5. What are the current cage temperatures/humidity?
6. What type/size rodent are you offering your snake?
7. How often are you offering food?

Pictures would be great:

How to post pictures: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...with-pictures)

He basically said it's been eating,he also said everything is set just about as perfect as it can be... So that's apparently not the issue..I'd think maybe question6&7 may be it..unless he is just going off feed cause of the season

also what I'd ask is ..have you made any changes to your enviroment or enclosure?

He has a 3ft wooden viv with 2 frontal sliding doors.
I'm using a 100 ceramic to heat the viv
I have a habistat thermostat (dimmer) to control the heat lamp
A digital thermostat is in use to monitor temps
Currently in the warm side the temp is 31.8 degrees C, in the cool side it is 26.6 degrees C
I have been offering my snake a weaner rat once a week, the weaner is roughly the same size as a XL mouse

I will upload a picture of the setup

No changes to the environment recently, small changes where made with hides and decoration around 2 month ago and he has eaten numerous times since. His enclosure is fairly built up and absolutely no sparse areas

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gazzaboy88

He has a 3ft wooden viv with 2 frontal sliding doors.
I'm using a 100 ceramic to heat the viv
I have a habistat thermostat (dimmer) to control the heat lamp
A digital thermostat is in use to monitor temps
Currently in the warm side the temp is 31.8 degrees C, in the cool side it is 26.6 degrees C
I have been offering my snake a weaner rat once a week, the weaner is roughly the same size as a XL mouse

I will upload a picture of the setup

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Ok, everything looks good. Often times people come on saying that everything is in order, but they really don't know what they are doing. For once it's nice to be wrong!

It sounds like your BP is just gone on a feeding strike. unfortunately BP's are notorious for doing so with little to no good reason for it. All you can do is make sure that you continue to give your BP proper husbandry, and keep offering food once a week.

Are you offering frozen/thawed, pre-killed, or live rodents?

Maybe he is just fasting,maybe cause of the season..I've heard it's common this time of year for them to go off of feed...what are the temps in your place? Maybe it's colder no that's caused your temps to drop..a buddy of mine his boa stopped eating for 6 weeks when he finally noticed his heating pads crapped out..he changed them and within a couple days he was eating again like normal.

I'm offering thawed prey. Always at night just before we go to bed to give him complete privacy to eat. How long do these this feeding strikes usually last?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gazzaboy88

I'm offering thawed prey. Always at night just before we go to bed to give him complete privacy to eat. How long do these this feeding strikes usually last?

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They can last months unfortunately.

How are you warming the rodent. Sometimes heating the rodent up a little more will help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NYHC4LIFE8899

Maybe he is just fasting,maybe cause of the season..I've heard it's common this time of year for them to go off of feed...what are the temps in your place? Maybe it's colder no that's caused your temps to drop..a buddy of mine his boa stopped eating for 6 weeks when he finally noticed his heating pads crapped out..he changed them and within a couple days he was eating again like normal.

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The digital thermostat has a prong inside the environment which reads the temp from inside so the temps are definately ok... and my place is warm the wofe never leaves the heating alone!

I usually just allow the rodent to thaw on top of the enclosire to room temperature... how could o warm it up a little more?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gazzaboy88

I'm offering thawed prey. Always at night just before we go to bed to give him complete privacy to eat. How long do these this feeding strikes usually last?

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About two years ago, my specimen went on fast for 8 months...he lost maybe 50g. This is very likely a seasonal breeding fast, continue to offer prey every 5-8 weeks if you want, but many will just let their males ride out the season once they have refused three consecutive meals.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gazzaboy88

I usually just allow the rodent to thaw on top of the enclosire to room temperature... how could o warm it up a little more?

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You feed room temperature rodents, no wonder your BP isn't eating. BP's hunt with their heat pits. Rodents offered need to be heated to around 38 C.

There are a few ways to do this. Many people use a hair dryer, others use heat lamps etc. Any radiant heat source should work. I wouldn't recommend using a microwave/oven/stove though as you don't want to cook the rodent.

What exactly is a seasonal fast? Are we reffering to the winter months or something more on the lines of a breeding season? Is my snake old enough to want to breed?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gazzaboy88

What exactly is a seasonal fast? Are we reffering to the winter months or something more on the lines of a breeding season? Is my snake old enough to want to breed?

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BP's tend to be more reluctant to eat during the winter months as it is their breeding season.

I think your issue is simply that your rodents aren't warm enough for your snake to identify them as food.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Serpent Merchant

You feed room temperature rodents, no wonder your BP isn't eating. BP's hunt with their heat pits. Rodents offered need to be heated to around 38 C.

There are a few ways to do this. Many people use a hair dryer, others use heat lamps etc. Any radiant heat source should work. I wouldn't recommend using a microwave/oven/stove though as you don't want to cook the rodent.

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I will try this next tume i offer food i have always offered at room temperature and had no issues in the past and he definately knows the rodent is there for him.

I will try this when i offer him a rat this week and let you all know what the outcome is thank you all for your help if everything i have piece of mind and re-assurance that it is quite normal and he will be ok

If he's not interested in f/t again, try live. A live rat and especially a live mouse will usually jump a feeding response.

How large is your male?
I know some males can be sexually mature at a young age, but I'm still thinking he might be too young for a breeding season related fast. So I'm doubting it's related to the breeding season.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by satomi325

If he's not interested in f/t again, try live. A live rat and especially a live mouse will usually jump a feeding response.

How large is your male?
I know some males can be sexually mature at a young age, but I'm still thinking he might be too young for a breeding season related fast. So I'm doubting it's related to the breeding season.

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What she said^^^ one of my guys wouldn't eat FT no mater what I did ..the day I threw a live mice hopper in,done deal,took him only seconds to snatch it up. Next I'm bout to try a rat pinky,hope he takes to it.

Typically temps, hides, and/or too much handling is to blame for not eating. Of course there are other issues, but for newer keepers not breeding those are usually the reasons.

BUT, there are times that they up and decide they don't like what you are feeding them anymore. Case and point, I have a male mojave that I want to strangle. For the first year of his life he ate anything. Then for almost 3 years he ONLY ate live mice. Now for the past 6 months he has been eating f/t rats. Makes no dang sense, he's just a jerk.

My advice, check temps, make sure hide is snug, don't handle him, and try different prey types. Live/dead, mice/rats.